Butter is an inevitable ingredient in most of dessert recipes. By definition, ghee is just clarified butter, but to me, the taste is completely different. The taste of butter is more close to heavy cream, while that of ghee is more close to cooking oil (at least to my tongue).

Is it good to use ghee instead of butter in dessert and pastry recipes`? Doesn't it ruin the taste to be far from the original standard?

@MartinTurjak this comment is probably the best answer the OP can get, as it really depends on the recipe and the audience's expectations. I would suggest writing it as an answer. A small thing to add - in recipes where the fat ratio is important, ghee (which is 100% fat) can ruin the ratio because butter is 83% fat.
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rumtscho♦Jul 18 '13 at 13:16

If the exact fat content of the butter is important for the result, using different brands of butter may also ruin the result. Some countries have regulated a minimum milk fat content in butter (USA: 80%, EU: 82%), but butter may have a higher fat content that what's required to call it butter.
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Tor-Einar JarnbjoJul 18 '13 at 16:37

7 Answers
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Ghee does have a different aroma and consistency, so, depending on the use of it in the recipe (wether it is used for frying or in the frosting for example), it will quite likely change the final result.

So in some cases substituting butter with some neutral flavored oil or margarine might be better than ghee. Which, I know, might not help if ghee is all you've got.

Also wanted to include what @rumtscho adds in the comment above:

in recipes where the fat ratio is important, ghee (which is 100% fat)
can ruin the ratio because butter is 83% fat.

And as to standards, they can be quite relative (making something that tastes slightly different doesn't necessarily ruin it) ... if you are making the desert for an indian audience, using clarified butter might taste quite normal =)

Ghee is basically clarified butter. If a dessert recipe calls for "butter" then it's probably not going to work. If it calls for cold butter cut in pieces... it definitely will not work. If a recipe calls for melted butter... you'll be ok.. use a touch less and add a splash of cream. Ghee is butter with the milk solids removed.

I used ghee in an icing recipe because I ran out of butter, and the texture was all wrong. Added a little milk after reading this and boom - the texture immediately improved. Some of the fat content separated, but I just poured it off and the icing was fine. I can recommend the combination of ghee and milk as a good substitution, at least for icings.

Hello, and welcome to the site! We generally express thanks with upvoting only (you will be able to upvote with a little bit of reputation) and delete thanks-only answers. Yours also contained valuable information about a working substitution which is not so explicitely described in the other answers, so I edited it to leave that part only.
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rumtscho♦Nov 27 '13 at 17:36

No, ghee cannot be used in place of butter, because ghee is clarified. This removes the water from the butter, which is a key component of butter when used in baking. The water evaporating and creating steam pockets gives a lot of foods their fluffy texture. The removal of the water would create a lot of issues in getting your desserts to come out right, even if the taste of ghee was similar to that of butter (which it is not)

Can you point to further sources about the evaporating water theory? It doesn't fit with what I remember about rising mechanisms. Also, I'm quite sure I've eaten steam-leavened food (like Danish pastry) with a substitute fat which does not have water.
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rumtscho♦Dec 11 '14 at 6:20

I am not a professional baker and am still learning but I bake almost every week. In my country ghee is a main ingredient in our houses, whether its made from clarifying butter at home or just buying it.

I use ghee in all my bakes, even in making caramel sauce, brownies, cheesecakes or cookies.

Just be careful what the recipe calls for. If it is cold cubes , then freeze it and then take it out after 15 min maybe and cut it just like butter. I the recipe asks for room temperature, then use it as it is.

It works everytime for me. For the taste part, if the ghee is home made then you have nothing to worry about. If you bought it ready just make sure it has a good not overwhelming taste and smell.

You can bake with ghee as you would with butter. Like butter, ghee gets very hard when you put it in the refrigerator. Like butter, ghee gets nice and soft when you take it out of the refrigerator. Ghee lasts long than butter because the milk product is gone. Ghee has MORE fat than butter so the person who suggested you use butter and walk more has the information all wrong. You can use ghee in a microwave (but why would you use a microwave for anything) and in the oven. I think the poster who asked if margarine was being used instead of ghee was on to something. Go with the ghee. People in India bake with it all the time and you can find a truckload of websites and blogs written by Indians who use ghee in every way of cooking.

As others have said, you can't "bake with ghee as you would with butter", because ghee is pure fat, whereas butter is 80-85% fat. You may be able to substitute ghee for butter depending on the recipe, but the two are not interchangeable.
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Dan CJul 30 at 14:40

-1: None of this answer makes sense. Ghee is "real butter", it's just clarified. There's no reason why it would work worse than butter in an oven - in fact it can withstand very high heat without burning. (While the milk solids in the butter will in fact burn.) And their impact on your weight / health is probably comparable as well. Are you sure you're not confusing ghee with margarine?
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millimooseNov 24 '13 at 17:08